Chandigarh: A day after the Congress announced its election team for the 2027 Punjab assembly elections, the response from several senior party functionaries remained muted, even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sought to portray the silence as a sign of discontent.The Congress on Wednesday retained Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and Partap Singh Bajwa as leader of the opposition. It also announced several new appointments. Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who was widely seen as a contender for Warring’s post, was appointed chairman of the campaign committee. Former minister Vijay Inder Singla was named chairman of the election management and coordination committee, while former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was appointed chairman of the core committee. MP Dr Amar Singh was made chairman of the manifesto committee.According to party sources, the appointments have not gone down well with some functionaries who were expecting a change. Warring, Singla, Dr Amar Singh, Razia Sultana and Sangat Singh Gilzian publicly welcomed the appointments. However, Channi, Randhawa, Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh had not publicly welcomed the new team till Thursday evening.Channi has also convened a meeting of his supporters and party workers at his residence on Friday. Party sources said the meeting is scheduled for 11am. However, neither Channi nor his supporters have publicly linked the meeting to the changes, and there has been no official indication that it is connected to the appointments. Despite repeated attempts, Warring and Channi were unavailable for comment.Congress MP Manish Tewari, who was not included in any of the newly constituted committees, also posted a cryptic message on social media. Referring to reports about his exclusion, Tewari wrote: “Wish I had an antidote for the insecurities of individuals and institutions! Having said that, @INCIndia has given me enough over the past 45 years, and I have also devoted my entire adult life to the service of the Indian National Congress. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.”Responding to questions about the reshuffle, Dr Amar Singh told a news agency that the appointments were made by the party high command and that anyone with concerns should take up the matter with the leadership.Reacting to Tewari’s exclusion, Congress MP Tariq Anwar said Tewari was a senior functionary and a multiple-term MP whose experience would have been valuable. “Manish Tewari has been an MP for several terms. He is a senior Congress leader and has knowledge of the issues. It would have been better if he had been part of the committee. Perhaps the high command has some other responsibility in mind for him, which is why he has not been included in this committee,” Anwar said.The AAP seized on the developments. Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema claimed there was “no celebratory mood” among Congress functionaries and predicted that some would eventually leave the party. Cabinet minister Harjot Singh Bains, in a social media post, also mocked the silence of some Congress functionaries, suggesting their political ambitions had been dashed.Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu also took a potshot, saying any Congress functionary whose name did not figure in the new committees should no longer consider himself a Congressman. He also congratulated those who were assigned new organisational responsibilities.
